Authenticity of China Hadith

This article is about the discussion on the authenticity of the famous China Hadith, “Seek Knowledge as far as China.” Someone pointed out that the hadith ‘Seek knowledge even as far as China’ is a weak hadith (called da’if in Arabic, zaif in Farsi and Urdu). While many scholars do regard this hadith as being weak, there is also a different opinion on this matter. There was a debate on this hadith in the comments section of the the Muslim Matters blog earlier this years. He is a relevant excerpt from the comments.

Some of the “heavy hitters” amongst classical Hadîth scholars have declared this Hadîth weak, but al-Mizzî who compiled Tahthîb al-Kamâl fî Asmâ’ ar-Rijâl, who is by far the “heaviest hitter” of the scholars of grading narrators has called for caution to be exercised with this Hadîth. He has stated, “Perhaps, its status is rectified to Hasan on account of its wide circulation, ” reasoning that an outright forgery wouldn’t have reached such wide circulation amongst the Muslims.

Likewise, al-Munâwî cites al-Dhahabî’s Talkhîs wherein he claims that it has numerous weak chains, but some are sound. However, I looked in al-Dhahabî’s Talkhîs Kîtâb al-Mawdû`ât and found that the part cited by al-Munâwî was absent. The fact that a classical work cites another classical work and that citation is no longer extant in the copies we have today is an unfortunately common evidence of the scores of “redactions” that “editors” have exercised upon these books of knowledge.

One must understand that a Hadîth being Da`îf is not enough to say definitively that it is “not Prophetic”. Imâm Ahmad’s school necessitates appealing to Da`îf narrations (under strict prerequisites) before the application of Qîyâs (deduction), and this was one of the defining differences in his approach to jurisprudence as opposed to the approach of his beloved and respected contemporary Imâm ash-Shâfi`î.

It would be safer and more wise to say that this Hadîth is correct in its meaning, but many scholars have declared it weak and Allah knows best.

The first to declare the “China” hadith forged seems to be Ibn al-Qaysarani (d. 507) in his Ma`rifa al-Tadhkira (p. 101 #118). This grading was kept by Ibn al-Jawzi in his Mawdu`at but rejected, among others, by al-Suyuti in al-La’ali’ (1:193), al-Mizzi, al-Dhahabi in Talkhis al-Wahiyat, al-Bajuri’s student Shams al-Din al-Qawuqji (d. 1305) in his book al-Lu’lu’ al-Marsu` (p. 40 #49), and notably by the Indian muhaddith Muhammad Taahir al-Fattani (d. 986) in his Tadhkira al-Mawdu`at (p. 17) in which he declares it hasan.

Given below is a quote from Dr. Mahatir Muhammad the former prime minister of Malaysia regarding this hadith. I would like to acknowledge that Dr. Mahatir is not a scholar of hadith but his stance on this matter seems to be different from other so I thought it would be helpful to reproduce it here.

A hadith says: “Seek knowledge even as far as China.” It was pointed out by detractors that this was just a saying of the Prophet and it was not a command from God. When they disagreed with a particular hadith, they were quick to discredit it and refused to acknowledge it as a source of Islamic teaching. But if they subscribed to it, then they would not cease to highlight it repeatedly, even if it’s authenticity is doubted. Surely seeking knowledge in China does not mean Islamic knowledge. During the Prophet’s period, China was also known to have deep knowledge in such fields as medicine, literature and paper, explosives and many others.

[ Given that many people ask abouh the authenticity of the famous China Hadith I thought it would be a good idea to cross-post this post from the Islam in China blog. ]

Brief Bio: Wang Daiyu is a doctoral student and the editor of the Islam in China webzine. He also maintains a blog on Islam and China.

[...] mosques in China - The Great Mosque of Guangzhou and a couple of reposts from this blog like the authenticity of the famous China hadith and Chinese Islamic wallpapers. I hope that the site will be beneficial for everyone and there [...]

one has to look into the spirit of the hadith. if one has to travel long distances to seek knowledge, one should do it. there’s nothing wrong. the distance between china and arabia is quite far. when the prophet said, “seek knowledge even if you have to go to china”, he was emphasising that distance should not be a problem and it should not distract people from learning.

God only knows whether the hadith is strong or weak. but since the message in the hadith (i.e emphasising on learning)is strong, we should follow it.

Ancient China and India were respectively known to the Arabs as As-Sin and Al-Hind respectively, with whom they had trade connection both on land and sea-routes, mainly on silk-routes. There were sea-silk routes too.
About the need to go to China even, to educate is a genuine hadith and it is much popular among the Arabs and Persians to abouth this hadith of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and they really believe it is shahi/genuine hadith. Look:

It will be a great disservice if you, in lack of knowledge and research, try to discredit this hadith. Prophet (pbuh) only stressed on secular education, which is much essential to know the Holy Quran in letter and spirit. Some Anogo-American, and European authours try to discredit this hadith, thus trying to belittle the all round achievement of early Chinese education. We also find a hadith that “Heaven smells from the East (India?)”.

Another Hadith: “Learn the language of the Turks, for they will have a long reign” (Muhammad al-Kashghari, 940 AD).
(see the “Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies”, University of London London, vol XLI, part
1, 1986, page 69).

see the Seljuk Turk who arose out of Abbasid Empire/Baghdad of the Turks in c. 1056 AD from whom the Ottoman Empire (1299-1924 AD) sprung up which ruled much of SE Europe, N. Africa, Arabia, ex-Ummayad and ex-Abbasid domains.

Don’t be surprised by such Hadith. The Rashidi Khalifs ruled in 632-661 AD only, Ummayad in 661-750 only and Abbasid in 750-1258 AD only. Take the single example, Ottoman/Usman Empire that ruled for more than 600 years, when Musatafa Kamal Pasha abolished the Caliphate in 1924. Even today, Turkish role in Islamic Affairs is paramount. Its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was recently conferred the Arab Nobel Prize for Service to Islam by king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Even OIC General Secretary is Ecmeleddin Ishanoglu, a Turk. How true the latter Hadith is which the Prophet spelt out in his lifetime!!!!!

About the Islam in China Project

Islam in China is a web resource on all about Chinese Muslims, Islam in China and the intersection between these two. The aim of our project is to explore the culture, history and traditions of Chinese Muslims as well as the interaction of the Chinese Civilization withe the Muslim world and the cultural exchanges between the two civilizations.